Photoshop Layers - Layer Groups

In previous tutorials in our series on Photoshop layers, we looked at what layers are and why they make everything we do in Photoshop so much easier. We learned the essentials of working inside the Layers panel, and we learned about the Background layer and the important ways it differs from Photoshop's other types of layers.

As you become more comfortable with layers and begin using them as a normal part of your workflow, you'll soon discover another important aspect of working with layers - keeping them organized. Whether you're retouching or restoring images, designing print or web layouts, or creating cool special effects, the number of layers in your document can add up quickly and it doesn't take long for your Layers panel to become a cluttered mess of confusion.

There's a couple of things we can do to keep the Layers panel looking neat and tidy. One is to rename layers, replacing the default names Photoshop gives them, like "Layer 2" and "Layer 10 copy 12", with names that are descriptive and meaningful. Another way, and the way we'll look at in this tutorial, is by using layer groups.

A layer group is very much like having a virtual folder in your Layers panel, a folder that you can place similar or related layers into. Just like a real world folder in a filing cabinet, you can open the folder at any time to view its contents, and you can close the folder when you don't need it to keep its contents safely tucked away out of sight.

New! Download our Photoshop tutorials as convenient, print-ready PDFs!

Photoshop Essentials on Facebook!

Here's an ad layout I have open on my screen for a fictional garden center:

An ad layout in Photoshop.

If we look in my Layers panel, we see that even though I've gone ahead and renamed many of the layers, there's still quite a few layers to sort through. In fact, I've had to split the Layers panel in half here to fit it more easily on the page. The top half is on the left and the bottom half is on the right:

The Layers panel showing all the layers used in the document.

It may look like there's a lot of layers in the document, but there's actually even more layers than what we're seeing. If we look at the very top of the layer stack, we see that I've already added a layer group, which I've named "Logo". We know that it's a layer group because of the folder icon to the left of the group's name:

A layer group named "Logo" appears at the top of the layer stack. The folder icon tells us it's a layer group.

Opening And Closing Layer Groups

I've gone ahead and placed a few layers inside the group, but by default, layer groups are closed, which is why we can't see any of the layers inside it. To open a group, simply click on the small triangle icon to the left of the folder icon:

Clicking on the triangle icon.

This "twirls" the group open, displaying the layers inside it. Photoshop lets us know which layers are part of the group by indenting them slightly to the right. Here, we can see that my Logo group contains five layers ("Bud's", "GARDEN", "CENTER", "leaves", and "Logo background"). To close a layer group after you've opened it, just click again on the triangle icon:

The five layers that make up the Logo group are indented to the right.

You may have guessed that the reason I placed those five layers into a group named "Logo" is because those are the layers that make up the "Bud's Garden Center" logo design in the top left corner of my document:

The layers in the group make up the logo in the top left corner.

One of the added advantages of using layer groups, besides keeping things organized, is that they make it easy to turn several layers on or off at once in the document. Normally, to turn a single layer on or off, we'd click on its layer visibility icon (the "eyeball") on the far left of the layer in the Layers panel. We can do the same thing with layer groups. Each group also has its own visibility icon. I'll turn the "Logo" group off temporarily by clicking on the eyeball:

Clicking on the Logo group's visibility icon.

With the group itself turned off, all five layers inside the group are instantly hidden in the document. To turn them all back on at once, I'd simply need to click again on the group's visibility icon:

All five layers that make up the logo are turned off by turning off the group itself.

Creating A New Layer Group

Let's look at how to create a new layer group. The fastest and easiest way to create a new group is by clicking on the New Layer Group icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. It's the icon that looks like a folder:

Clicking on the New Layer Group icon.

Photoshop will create a new layer group, give it a default, generic name (in this case, "Group 1") and place it directly above whatever layer or layer group was selected when you clicked on the New Layer Group icon. In my case, my "Logo" group was selected, so Photoshop placed the new group above it:

A new group, "Group 1", appears at the top of the layer stack.

The problem with creating new layer groups this way is that all we've done is created an empty group. There are no layers inside of it. To place layers into the group, we'd need to select and drag them in manually. I'll press Ctrl+Z (Win) / Command+Z (Mac) on my keyboard to undo my last step and remove the group I added.